Youth Volunteer Faces Charges of Molestation

Ventura County prosecutors charged a 15-year-old Moorpark boy Friday with four counts of child molestation stemming from allegations that he sexually abused several children at the city’s Boys & Girls Club during the last month.

Each charge carries a maximum prison term of eight years. But because the boy is a minor, he could be out of jail when he turns 21, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Miles Weiss, supervisor of the juvenile prosecution unit.

Ventura County sheriff’s investigators arrested the boy about 8 a.m. Wednesday as he started his second day as a youth volunteer at the club’s summer camp, which serves nearly 100 children 6 to 14 years old.

He remained in custody Friday at Ventura County Juvenile Hall, and is to appear before a juvenile court judge Monday. Weiss said the investigation is ongoing and that additional charges could be filed.

Club officials have spent the last three days dealing with the fallout from the allegations as parents have called asking for updates on the case, concerned their children might be among the victims.

A letter explaining the situation has been sent to parents of children enrolled at the club, and officials will soon provide counselors.

Officials have contacted leaders with the National Boys & Girls Club for advice on handling the situation, said Michael Wesner, the Moorpark club’s board president.

Club Director Scott Mosher said Friday that changes are being considered at the Casey Road club but no final decisions will be made until he and the club’s board of directors can get more information from investigators. “We have met and talked as a staff about heightened supervision,” Mosher said. “It’s the same practices that we have always had, but we want to create an awareness to make sure kids are supervised. We will look at all our systems and procedures.”

That would include reevaluating the club’s policy about checking the backgrounds of staff volunteers, he said.

The club’s 18 paid adult staff members must submit to background checks, but the club’s three minors who volunteer for the summer camp do not.

Teen Affiliated With Club for 5 Years

The club is open year-round and serves more than 1,000 children. It relocated to Casey Road a decade ago and includes tennis courts, a gymnasium, game rooms and a library.

The 15-year-old in custody had been affiliated with the club, first as a member and then as volunteer, since he was 10. Those who knew him were stunned by the charges.

On Friday afternoon, at least two dozen children enrolled in the summer program played board games or worked on arts and crafts with the help of blue-shirted staff members.

“Someone is always there to supervise the kids,” said a club staff member who would not give his name. “It had to have happened in a split second. I have known him since he was 11 and he has always been a nice kid from a really good family. He and his brother were on the basketball team. Everybody knew him.”

Mosher has said the boy had a spotless reputation and there were no prior problems with him as a club member or a volunteer.

The boy allegedly lured seven children, all between the ages of 9 and 11, into an area of the club out of view of adult staff and molested them, Sheriff’s Capt. Frank O’Hanlon said. Several witnesses interviewed by investigators said they too had been approached by the teen but rejected his advances, O’Hanlon said.

“Children are easily manipulated,” O’Hanlon said. “They will tend to not disclose these things because they think they may be looked at as a guilty party.”